NaNoWriMo Day 5

The Words: 2810 words total for the day. I planned to write another 500 words over my personal daily goal of 2500 again today, to make up for day 3’s dismal word count, but I almost didn’t even write 2500.

I wrote about 500 in the early evening, before my normal evening rituals kicked in. That all went a little later than normal tonight, because my husband got home from work a little later. And before I knew it, once everything was settled down, it was 11 pm, and I still only had 500 words! So I sat down and just got going and managed to get 2200 words in a little under an hour.

The Story: The two major characters who have been conversing through letters finally met in person. Then they took the conversation in a way that I didn’t like, because it kinda throws a wrench in their motivations for the next scene or two. We’ll see how that all shakes out later. Because I was trying to write a lot of words in a small amount of time, most of what I wrote today was dialog without much action amongst it. But to be fair, I often leave that stuff to add in later, so it will be about like normal for a first draft.

Total word count: 11,430

If you want to join me in my journey through the first year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 5, 2010!

NaNoWriMo Day 4

The Words: 3066 words total for the day. I had to make up a little for yesterday’s dismal word count, so I wrote 500 more than my personal daily goal of 2500. I did not stay up all night, but still spent a good amount of today recovering from the small amount of sleep. I didn’t start writing until around 7:30, and then did a chunk here, a chunk there, finally finishing at around 11 pm.

The Story: There were a few letters written between a couple of major characters today, and now we’re going to an engagement party at a very large, fancy house. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with that, but I’ll be vague or completely skip descriptions for now, to avoid being slowed down during NaNo. I stopped writing right before the two major characters who have been writing letters back and forth are about to meet in person for the very first time.

Total word count: 8620

If you want to join me in my journey through the first year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 4, 2010!

NaNoWriMo Day 3

The Words: 385 words total for the day, and I’m calling it at 11 pm. A combination of having a lot of things to get done at home today (mostly in the kitchen) and election-night distractions made it a difficult day to write.

I also have to go to bed, like, an hour ago, because I have to be up at 5 am to take some family members to the airport. So…I’m either going to go to bed right now, or I’m going to stay up until 5 am and get some extra writing in then. It remains to be seen which of these things happens.

But at least I did some and kept my streak. And I’m still on par for the normal NaNoWriMo word count, because I wrote extra the last 2 days.

The Story: I made sure to figure out where I was supposed to be in the storyline that I started on Monday, and wrote a little more of that today. I began the first letter of many that a major character will write to one of the main characters, though it didn’t go the way I’d planned.

Total word count: 5554

If you want to join me in my journey through the first year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 3, 2010!

NaNoWriMo Day 2

The Words: 2591 words total for the day. I wrote a little after midnight last night, as I often do, to get a jump start on the next day’s writing. Because our neighbors are having the roof and siding replaced, we’re consistently being woken up earlier than I normally have to (no job outside the home, daughter is homeschooled, and I’m a night owl), so I wrote for 25 minutes, tapping away on my Neo while my husband slept, then read a little, and went to bed much earlier than normal.

The rest of the words came in sporadic bursts here and there throughout the day today, some on my Neo in my bedroom, some on my PC.

The Story: When I went upstairs to write for a while before bed, I failed to make sure I knew where I’d last left off. I had no clue where I was in the story and didn’t want to go back downstairs to look at the saved file on my computer. So I just started into another character’s storyline. I had specifically planned to stick to one storyline until it was done, or until I got bored, this year, since last year I went back and forth between two storylines just about every day. But alas, the only thing I could do with no idea of where I’d left off was to start at the beginning of a new storyline.

And then I went totally off outline, which I thought was fine at first, but realized that it was also quite out-of-character for this person. And I didn’t want that, so I flagged a chunk for deletion and went back to where I was still with the outline to keep writing.

Total word count: 5168

If you want to join me in my journey through the first year of NaNoToons (with a storyline), check out the NaNoToon from November 2, 2010!

NaNoWriMo Day 1

The Words: 2577 words total for the day. I almost always start at midnight on Nov. 1 (in my 11 years of doing NaNo, I think I’ve only not done this twice), but I was in a car at midnight. Fortunately, I’d thought ahead to the possibility of not being home and had my Neo with me. Though I thought I’d be inside somewhere. It still worked….not well, because it was dark, and while I thought that would be fine, because of the no-editing rule, sometimes I couldn’t even remember what the last word I’d written was. Or when I inevitably did go back and erase something out of habit, I wouldn’t know if I’d gotten it all. That will be the most error-filled 700 words of the entire novel at the end of this. But I digress.

I wrote another 700 words when I got home, during a word sprint started on the Twitter feed of @NaNoWordSprints, and went to bed with the smallest midnight-sprint word count I’ve had in 8 years. But I was content with my number. I wrote another thousand words this afternoon to get to the number above.

I often set my daily goal higher than the normal minimum, because it’s important to me that I finish the draft of the novel before the motivation of the month disappears. Unfortunately, I never know how long the draft will actually be. I’m guessing around 75k this year, so my daily goal is 2500 words. And because I also don’t want to finish the draft too early in the month, I’m going to stop at 2500 as often as I can (sometimes I just get the urge to keep going, ya know?). It’s a delicate balance, trying to come to the end of the draft right at the end of the month, considering I don’t estimate my total draft lengths very well. But I’ll re-evaluate halfway through the month or so and raise or lower the word count if/as necessary.

My daily updates aren’t usually this lengthy; I just had a lot to explain today.

The Story: Even though I tried to think ahead about how to start this novel for the last few days, when the time came to begin, nothing really felt right. I stumbled through the opening scene and then dove into the beginning of one of the 4 storylines that will comprise this novel. And then between writing sessions, I thought about a way the opening scene might be better, so I wrote a note to myself for future editing. I don’t want to start re-writing scenes already, so I’ll worry about it later.

Total word count: 2577

For almost as long as I’ve been blogging about how NaNo is going all through the month of November, I’ve been sharing each day’s NaNoToon. Sadly, NaNoToons ended last year. Rather than give up that tradition, I’m going to start going back through them, starting with the first year there was a storyline through the month. So for today, if you want to join me, check out the NaNoToon from November 1, 2010!
And in honor of November 1st, because it is absolutely not NaNoWriMo without the NaNoMusical, here is episode 1!

Weekly Writing Update: December Week 1 (NaNoWriMo Wrap-Up)

(Before I get into this long update, one last time for 2018, be sure to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already: 2019 – December 1st It’s also the very last NaNoToon ever!)

NaNoWriMo is over, and boy what a month it was. I spent pretty much all of my free time in November either writing for NaNoWriMo or working on “Pithea” for its upcoming release. Still, I came out on the other side with 82,750 words and, more importantly, a finished draft! This book will most likely be book #8 in the Pithea Series. But since I’m just about to publish book #1, and all of the books between here and #8 still need a lot of work, who knows what could happen by the time I get there.

I had some highs and lows during NaNo, but was more happy than not with what I was writing. I had some “Aha!” moments, which I absolutely love, even though they were mostly minor. Still exciting! I already know a lot of places that need work, but it will be a long time before I get back to it for revision.

I had hoped to leave myself with little to work on for publishing “Pithea” during November, so I could focus on NaNo, but being that this is the first novel I’ve ever published, I can say now how silly it was for me to think that would be the case. I managed to find a balance, though, and now I have only small details left to work on.

I now have a finished cover, the paperback interior is completely ready, and the digital file just needs updated to minor changes I made when finalizing the paperback interior. I’ve added the book to Goodreads (just the paperback for now until I finish the digital file), and the ebook will be available for pre-order on Amazon soon!

So with NaNo over and my attention turning not only to final publishing details, but also to working on book #2 so that it can be released in a timely fashion after book #1, I have a new list of writing goals, related to all of these things:

1. Remove NaNo fodder from 2019 NaNoNovel – Sometimes I’ll spend the first few days after November ends doing a quick clean-up of what I wrote–mostly removing things I marked as NaNo fodder and at least doing a quick spell check. This is usually better to do while the story is still fresh, and then it’s good to let it sit for some time. It shouldn’t take long, and is better done now than later (I know that from experience).

2. Update Kindle version of “Pithea” – As part of this goal, after updating it, I’ll need to upload the final version to KDP, proof it, and decide on when the pre-order should be available. And add the Kindle version to Goodreads.

3. Finish first revision of “Outcast” (book #2) – Going by what is widely understood to be acceptable word count lengths for books of its type, “Outcast” is currently quite a bit too short. However, the amount I’d have to add would basically be entire new story arc. Rather than stress about how to lengthen it right now, I’m going to finish with the revision of what is already there, and then send it to 3 people who were most helpful with revision of “Pithea” and ask them to read it and tell me what they think–if they think there’s a lot that could be expanded on, plot threads they’d like to see followed, etc. And then I’ll go from there.

NaNoWriMo Day 30

Day 30 writing badge

The Words: 633 words, which were written in a notebook while sitting at my table at the nearby library’s Local Author Book Sale today. I wrote now and then when there were no people in sight. I knew I was close to the end of the story and figured I could make use of the downtime.

The Story:  I finished storyline 2 today, which also finished the draft! There was some conversation that didn’t get written for storyline 2b, but there came a point where I was just repeating some of the same argument between 2 people. When it’s time to revise this draft, storyline 2b will be the first thing to get a huge makeover anyway, because I kept it super simple in a way that won’t work that well for a book. So I’ll have to figure out how liven up that storyline, and I can add anything else it needs in at that point anyway.

FINAL word count: 82,750

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 30, 2019
Be sure to check back tomorrow too, as there is often a final comic on December 1st.
The final episode of the NaNoMusical is perfect for the final day of NaNo. Be sure to watch the wrap-up!

NaNoWriMo Day 29

Day 29 writing badge

The Words: 415 words. I wrote a little during my family’s big Thanksgiving get-together today. I took my Neo and typed a little while my family was playing Codenames: Pictures.

The Story:  That small amount of words was for storyline 2, and I think I’m now onto the final scene for this storyline. Tomorrow, I’ll be gone all morning and afternoon, going to a nearby library for a Local Author Book Sale to sell The Triangle and promote “Pithea.” And in the evening, my family will probably be decorating the Christmas tree, but I expect to still have some time before midnight to get a little more work in and hopefully finish the draft!

Total word count: 82,117

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 29, 2019

NaNoWriMo Day 28

Day 28 writing badge

The Words: 1893 words. Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate! My big family get-together is tomorrow, so today wasn’t as busy as it is for many. I did have some food to prepare, and my husband and kids and I had a small celebratory dinner for just us, but I had some free time this afternoon. Unfortunately, a collaboration of events kept me from getting any writing in until after my daughter went to bed anyway. But I still managed to get plenty of writing in at that time.

The Story:  Storyline 1, which I thought was going to be the secondary arc but has apparently become the main arc, came to an end today. However, after I pantsed a climax, I realized that what I had left in my outline just wasn’t a great way to end the main arc of the book. So I decided to write a scene that would follow the thread that came up during my writing this month (so wasn’t planned ahead at all) through to where that would lead into the next book. I’m still not 100% sure that that is where I want to leave it, but I will worry about that during the first revision, after the book has had time to rest. Then I’ll have time to re-outline using this draft, and figure out what the story might be missing, and the best way to end the book.

I now have 2 days left to finish storyline 2. I am definitely close, but will be gone pretty much all day tomorrow, and will probably be pretty busy on Saturday. I have confidence that I’ll end the month with a completed draft though. I did sort of leave storyline 2b hanging, but it’s not nearly as important, most of what was going to happen there is written in enough detail in my outline anyway, and to be honest, I didn’t know how much of it was going to stay in the finished story, and how much will be edited out anyway, so it doesn’t bother me if i don’t have time to go back and “finish” it.

Total word count: 81,702

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 28, 2019

NaNoWriMo Day 27

Day 27 writing badge

The Words: 2213 words. I had an afternoon alone today and an evening with just my husband and me home, so I made sure to spend some time writing in the afternoon, to open up my evening to spend with my husband. I wrote just past par and ended at a pivotal moment. My brain kept working on it after my husband came home, so I had to write just a little bit more to avoid forgetting what I’d decided to do. Then later, after the kids came home, I had a little extra time, but couldn’t focus well enough to get more than 80 words.

The Story:  The secondary climax (which is the main climax of storyline 2) went quite well for a first draft, contrary to what I expected. Then after that, I got to write what I feel like is one of my best out-of-nowhere-but-it-works ideas for the later books of this series. There’s definitely not much left of storyline 2, and I have to figure out how to end it.

Total word count: 79,809

Don’t forget to check out today’s NaNoToons if you haven’t already:
November 27, 2019